The Hero
by Saber77kun
Summary: She was a tortured soul. She neither wanted the Holy Grail, nor she desired the Akasha. All she wanted... was someone to save her.
1. Arrival

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **Arrival**

 _Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill!_

 _Repeat five times._

 _But when each is filled, destroy it._

 _Heed my words._

 _My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny._

 _If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason,_

 _Then answer me!_

 _I hereby swear…_

 _That I shall be all the good in the world._

 _That I shall defeat all the evil in the world._

 _You, Seven Heavens, shrouded by the three great words of power,_

 _Come forth from the circle of the inhibition…_

 _Guardian of the Scales!_

Massive amount of energy billowed forth and swivelled around as words full of power, belief, and desperation were uttered. Stale air was kicked around furiously and menacingly, threatening to throw the occupants of the dark and dank basement. And all the while, the circle of magic used to enact the mystery glowed brightly in a vibrant display of multi-coloured light, its intensity growing with each passing second.

'This… I wasn't expecting this!' the oldest one in the basement, a decrepit, seemingly frail old man thought, not paying attention to the wind screaming at his face. He looked on as the energy building up upon the magic circle continued to skyrocket. 'Unexpected, yet not unwelcomed. A servant requiring this much prana to get summoned will most likely be one of the most powerful. Although…' his eyes narrowed down at his _granddaughter._ It looked like her body was convulsing from the strain of releasing this much prana at once. Any further observation was cut off though, when there was a massive spike of magic and in a blinding flash of light, a figure emerged.

'What a frightening aura!' Zouken's mind was reeling. 'He is certainly not Medusa,' he thought as he took in the distinctly male figure of the summoned Servant. From the cloud of dust and smoke lingering around the newly summoned servant, the only things he could make out was golden blonde hair, and crimson trench coat. Unfortunately, the servant was not facing towards him, so he couldn't see more.

"Servant Rider, I've come in response to your summons. I ask of you, are you my master?"

He heard the servant ask his granddaughter. However, before Sakura could answer, he decided to cut in, so that he can tweak the Servant-Master bond as he had planned, so that his grandson Shinji, the snivelling boy cowering behind him could take position as an acting Master.

"Rider," he called out, and in the next moment, tried his best to not flinch as the attention of the Servant was laid upon him. Despite his age, and the vast experience that came with it to stand up against all sorts of adverse situation, he couldn't help but shudder when he saw those baleful cerulean blue eyes. 'What sort of monstrosity has Sakura summoned?' he couldn't help but wonder. The power lurking behind those blue orbs, it was most disconcerting.

Composing his thoughts, he said, "Although my granddaughter will provide you prana, your master will be my grandson, Shinji." With this said, he yanked his failed legacy by the scruff of his neck and placed him in front of the servant.

Sakura looked on resignedly as the servant she had just summoned a few moments ago scrutinise her _brother_ , all the while trying to stay on her feet. Summoning him had easily been her toughest ordeal till date. Nothing came close. Not even her first acclimatisation with Makiri family magic. It felt like her body was getting stabbed from hot knives inside out. Her nerves felt like they were on fire.

And yet, she stood. Enduring it all, not because she desired to get stronger with diligence, but because her _grandfather_ had told her to do so.

"I refuse." She heard the Servant say. In normal circumstances, she might have been shocked by witnessing someone not complying with her grandfather's wish. However, her mind was too numb to respond to anything truly. So instead, she took in the appearance of the Servant she had summoned.

He was a tall male, wearing some kind of crimson trench coat that was concealing most of his body. However, she could still make out a black and orange jacket and matching orange pants beneath the coat. On top, his head was adorned by sun-kissed golden blonde hair, however it was not the thing that registered most in her mind. For some strange reason, she was seeing three whisker like marks on each of his cheeks. 'How can a person have those? Am I hallucinating?' she pondered.

"It was not a _request,_ Servant," Zouken tersely said.

"Whatever it was, you don't possess any authority over me. You're not my master," was the flippant remark.

The former Tohsaka felt the Makiri crest worm in her heart twist around in agitation. Her grandfather was not in a good mood. "I don't have time for this. Sakura!" he barked, "Give your command seals to Shi-

But he couldn't complete his sentence, courtesy of his false body getting ripped apart to millions of pieces, courtesy of a furious ball of energy and wind spinning fiercely upon where he stood. Two sets of wide eyes watched in astonishment as their grandfather was literally torn out from existence, one with barely suppressed hope, and other with abject horror.

"I didn't like the emotions coming from you," the Servant remarked impassively, when the hurricane of wind of energy died down. Then he turned his attention towards the quaking blue haired boy, who promptly fled, screaming his head off all the way.

"So, Sakura was it?" Rider asked the only human left in the dank basement.

She, instead of acknowledging his question, trudged tiredly towards him and weakly caressed his cheeks. "It's real," she said, wonder shining in her eyes.

A **/N:** First thing, I know it's short. But don't worry, this was just a prologue. Regular chapters will be of 4k-5k word length in average. Sometimes more, if the situation demands it.

Another thing is, although I've thought of how I want to progress my story, I still want to know about how powerful Rider should feasibly be in comparison to Servants, especially Arturia and Gilgamesh. And on that topic, those of you, who hasn't figured out who Rider is, STOP, this story is not for you.

Just to make my case clear, Rider is from the end of the canon, and thus, he is considerably powerful, capable of kicking some major asses. However, Nasu characters also kick ass on regular basis. Therefore, I want your opinion on this.

 **Notice:** Beta needed.


	2. Rider

**Review Responses:**

 **Shen69:** Purifying was what I had in mind as well. However, as for circuits getting damaged, I don't think he will do that.

 **Gawain-Knight of the Sun:** Yes, class restrictions will be placed on him as well.

 **Mx2432:** As of now, I've decided to not let him have access to Sage of Six Path mode. That basically turns him into Jesus. I mean he did not just heal, but also recreated Kakashi's eye without having any anatomical knowledge.

As for the route, I'm not following any particular route in general. I'll most likely mix up bits and pieces.

 **a certain reading fan:** Thanks, your input has been most helpful.

Since I've decided to not let him have access to SO6P mode, Truth Seeking balls are currently out of picture.

 **0 Jordino 0:** The Elemental Nations is portrayed as one supercontinent in canon. So going along with it, Shinobi age occurred even before Gilgamesh's age. One of the reason why Sakura had to expend such large amount of magic in order to summon Rider.

 **Allis1:** With all due respect to Fairy Tail Dragon Slayer and his research, I find myself a little befuddled by his claims.

 **Jack Hopper:** Both actually, with host of other tailed beasts.

 **A/N:** First of all, I would like to offer a huge thanks to all the readers who either reviewed, liked, or followed the story. Honestly, the response by you all was overwhelming. I'd never imagined that this will garner 40 reviews, and 100 plus likes and follows from first chapter alone. I'm really touched.

Mushy stuff aside, after giving it a lot of thought, I've decided that trying to grasp the concept of power level in Nasuverse is not good for health. There are so many hax, my head hurts just from thinking about it.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

 **Rider**

Weary black eyes languidly revealed themselves to the world as one Sakura Matou woke up to the sound of various birds chirping somewhere nearby her. Blinking, she turned her head towards the sole window in her room, a puzzled expression on her face. 'I thought grandfather only allowed his worms to enter in here.'

"Don't worry, master. They're not familiars. I've confirmed that they are real genuine birds." And leaning against the wall by her bedroom door, was her Servant. It looked like he had changed into more comfortable set of clothes; an orange t-shirt and black pants. "Rider," she acknowledged. She then winced as her body protested when she tried to sit up.

"Are you alright, master?" Rider asked as he came by her bedside, a concerned look on his face.

Sakura blinked at the sudden question. "I… I think am," she softly spoke. Other than the mild throbbing, she felt fine.

"Glad to hear that," her servant smiled.

In a normal scenario, Sakura would have returned a smile of her own, however, with how the last decade of her life went by, the act of smiling was almost a foreign notion for her. And not to mention, there was also the fact that the memory of last night's event was still fresh on her mind. "Grandfather will not be _glad,_ " she remarked in a monotone. "I was not supposed to be your master. Brother was."

Rider scoffed, "As if I'll ever accept him as my master. That swine! If only you could sense what I could sense from him. No brother should ever have such immoral intentions for his sister," he finished in a harsh tone.

Sakura decided to keep quiet about the tantric ritual that Shinji _enjoyed_ doing with her. Despite his faults in character, Shinji was still required for her survival. Without him there to stabilize her when the crest worms fed on her carnal desires, she would most probably die.

"And as for that old fossil, don't worry about him anymore. He's gone, I made sure of it," Rider said reassuringly.

However, Sakura just shook her head forlornly. "No Rider, you're mistaken. Zouken Matou, my grandfather is not someone you can get rid of as easily as that. He has many ways to sustain himself in this plane of existence." Unknowingly, the last part came out more bitter than she had intended.

"If you are concerned about him coming back from the grave with the help of those little wiggly bastards that he had planted inside your body, then I've a good news for you. They're gone. I purged them."

And just like that, Sakura's mind went blank at that. All of a sudden, her thoughts came to a screeching halt. She could feel a lump forming inside her throat. "How?" she almost choked.

"Let's just say I know a lot about foreign soul in a human body and keep it at that."

"Is this true?" his master asked, no demanded.

Seeing the intensity of blossoming hope in her eyes, Rider tried his best to not flinch away from her. After all, it was a sight he was intimately familiar with. Unbidden, a memory of a whiskered blonde boy on a swing all by himself surfaced. It was violently stamped down.

"Yes." He gave a firm nod.

"You are not lying to me, right?" Sakura's voice was tremulous at that point. She was finding it difficult to believe that all of sudden, the wretched source of all her sufferings was no more. Zouken Matou was truly dead. It was unthinkable for her. It felt surreal even. A bubble of elation was growing inside her, but she was not allowing it to take hold of her, for she feared if her servant was just messing around with her, it would be too cruel.

In front of her, Rider grimaced. 'To react like this, the despair you felt must have been incomparable, master. And to think that you were resigned to fate worse than this.'

"Answer me, Rider!" Sakura's impatient order cut through his internal musings.

However, instead of answering, Rider just picked up a hand-held mirror from her bedside dresser, and gave it to her. Shakily, Sakura took it from him, and nearly dropped it when she saw her reflection in it.

She was free from the accursed purple of Makiri magic.

"I thought, this will… _oomph!"_ Anything further that Rider was going to say was cut off when he found himself pulled in a bone crushing hug. And she held onto him like that for several minutes. "Hey, you alright there?" Rider asked softly. In response, his Master just held onto him tighter.

 **Next Day**

 _THUD_

The sound of flesh unceremoniously hitting the unforgiving wooden floor resounded around a room.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch."

"Sempai!" a worried voice called out.

"What the hell, Tohsaka! What are you doing in here?!" a red haired boy exclaimed in indignation, all the while rubbing his jeans covered poor butt that had taken the most of his sudden fall.

"Huh? What are you talking about, sempai?"

"Don't play games with me! I've heard of how devilish you can be." Standing up swiftly, the red haired boy wearing a white long sleeved t-shirt pointed an accusing finger towards Sakura. "You might have taken me by surprise by your sudden appearance, but I won't be fooled by your sham. So tell me now, what are doing you in my house? And how did you know where I live? And most importantly, who gave you the permission to enter my kitchen!?" he was shouting in outrage at the end.

Sakura giggled, mirth dancing in her eyes. "Oh Sempai, it seems you're mistaken. I'm not Tohsaka Sempai. I'm Sakura."

"Huh," golden brown eyes blinked owlishly. And then, in the next moment, those eyes were filled by ire. "You think I'm a fool!"

"Who's creating all this ruckus?!" another person roared from the door. A brown haired woman in rumpled pyjamas, holding a wooden sword entered with an irate look on her face. When she saw the source of _ruckus,_ a tick mark grew on her forehead. "Shirou! Why are you shouting?!"

"Ah, Fuji-nee," Shirou Emiya, adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya, and senior of Sakura by a year, yipped in panic. 'This is not good. This is not good. Tiger must not be unleashed. Tiger must not be unleashed,' he chanted frantically in his mind, irrational fear gripping his very being when he cast a brief yet frightful look at the wooden sword, the _Torashinai_. "Forgive me Fuji-nee. I was just taken by surprise at Tohsaka's sudden appearance," he tried to reason.

Fujimura Taiga: teacher at Homurabara School, the air-headed daughter of local Mafia, resident free-loader, and most importantly, Shirou's guardian, paused to look at the other female in the room for a moment. "That's Sakura, you idiot!" she yelled at the redhead next instant.

"But… but, she looks like Tohsaka."

"Of course she looks like her. She is her biological sister after all," his guardian exasperatedly said.

"Eh…" Shirou was gobsmacked.

However, this time it was not only he, even Sakura was gaping like a fish. "How did you know that, Sensei?" she asked curiously. 'Is Fujimura sensei a magi as well?' she thought warily.

"By your school records. Your kindergarten records displays your name as Sakura Tohsaka. Not to mention the picture of you attached showed you as a black haired, blue eyed girl like you are right now."

"Ah, I see," Sakura was relieved. It would have been troublesome situation if the brown haired woman was magi.

"I wonder though, why did you get rid of your purple colour scheme. Got fed up with the dye?"

"You could say that," Sakura shrugged.

"Ah, but I thought it complimented you really well, Sakura-chan."

"Wait a minute! You mean to say Sakura was dyeing her hair from her kindergarten days!" Shirou could not help but speculate loudly. Dyeing her hair from such a small age, it made no sense to him. He was about to voice it loud as well, but then he saw the look he was getting from both females. "Ok, I'll just shut up," he grumbled. 'Honestly, what's the deal with these females?'

"So now that it's clear that I'm me. Should I fix breakfast for everyone?" Sakura politely asked.

"Yes!" was the immediate reply of Fujimura Taiga.

"Ah… sure," Shirou said, scratching the back of his head. "And Sakura, I apologise for my behaviour. I should have realized it was you. Despite the similarities, your hairstyle is yours, not pigtails like Tohsaka's."

The former purplette smiled. "It's alright sempai. No harm done."

"Eh, knowing Shirou, he was probably vexed more by someone he perceived as a stranger entering his sacred kitchen," Fujimura smirked.

"Not again, Fuji-nee," Shirou said in exasperation.

"Well, that was rather interesting," Rider bemusedly commented, while on the way to his master's school.

Sakura laughed lightly at that. "Yes, for all his virtues, Sempai can be little thick-headed sometimes."

"I wasn't talking about that. What I found interesting was you being a former Tohsaka; one of the founding families of this Holy Grail War."

"And how did you come to know about that? I don't think the Grail provides information like those."

"No it doesn't. I just have a perfect technique for gathering information such as this."

"Really?"

"Yup. Shadow Clone Jutsu is as good as it gets. Allows me to make perfect copies of myself, and when they are dismissed, all the information they've gathered in their limited lifetime is assimilated in my mind."

"I see. Are there any drawbacks to this technique?"

"Only one I can think of. It can be fatal to a person if they don't have large chakra reserves."

"Chakra?" Sakura enquired, puzzled by that term.

"Umm, putting aside the technicalities, it's something similar to mana that modern magi uses. A kind of supernatural energy that we use to power our mysteries."

"But won't that be a problem for you then. Now that you've mana instead of chakra, wouldn't it be difficult for you to use your techniques?"

"Not really, mana is basically spiritual energy; one of the two constituents of chakra. The other being physical energy, which is just our life force."

"Oh, then I think it won't be a problem for you to use the Shadow Clone technique, with you having A rank mana pool and all."

Rider frowned. "To be honest, I'm used to having much, much more readily available chakra than this. What is available to me isn't even quarter of what I used to possess. I guess, this is the price I had to pay for being summoned as a Rider class servant."

Sakura looked downcast. "I'm sorry about that, Rider."

 _Bonk_

"Owie."

"The heck you're saying sorry for. What's done is done. Besides, because of my class, I'm truly looking forward to the day when I summon Kurama into battle. It's been a long time since I last rode upon that over grown fox."

And seeing the wistful smile on her servant's visage, Sakura couldn't help but smile herself. A true smile, free from cursed influence of Zouken Matou, and devoid of all taints of Makiri magic. "Hey Rider, were you very powerful in your life?"

Rider grinned. "Easily the most powerful of my time. My people even used to proclaim me as the greatest of all time."

"Really?" Sakura was awed.

"Well, there were few who came close, but I was really the best."

Sakura laughed heartily at her servant's boisterous claim. "Oh my, then you guys must have been really, really powerful."

"Indeed, at the height of our reign, we could summon meteor out of space and defeated a super-powered alien hell-bent on subjugating us."

"What?!" the black haired girl spluttered. "You defeated a TYPE! But it doesn't even possess a concept of death."

The basic knowledge provided by the Grail about the world and its governing principles at the time of his summoning made it easy for Rider make the connection between a TYPE and an alien. 'Hey, now that I think of it, I think I know why Juubi, as well as other Bijuus were immortals. They lacked the freaking concept of death!'

"Not easily though," Rider remarked shortly, not wanting to talk much about it.

"But still, to defeat a TYPE," Sakura remarked dazedly.

After that, the walk to school was fairly uneventful.

Sakura watched indifferently as the arrow she had let fly whistled through the air and hit just a centimetre away from the bull's eye. With practised ease, she silently drew another arrow from her quiver and notched it. Taking aim, she mentally imaged how her sempai, Shirou did this and tried her best to emulate his action. She let the arrow fly.

It fell short of few centimetres to bull's eye once again.

"Don't frown, master. You are doing very well. With enough practice, it will come to you," the astralized Rider commented in encouragement.

"Easy for you to say, Rider. You can probably hit the centre with every arrow you notch."

"Maybe, maybe not. Never favored a bow, or any other kind of armament before. My fists and kicks have always been enough for me in battle."

"Oh, and you believe they will be enough for this war?"

"Ah, the faith my master shows in my abilities." If Rider wasn't astralized at that moment, he would have dramatically clutched at his heart.

Sakura chuckled at his antics.

"Huh, why are you laughing?" a curious voice called out from her behind, putting a sudden stop to the private conversation going on between the master and her servant.

The former purplette nearly dropped her yumi bow in surprise.

"Sempai!" she squeaked.

The redheaded Emiya tilted his head inquisitively.

"Ah, it was… umm… nothing actually," Sakura fumbled with her words.

"Oh, okay," being the placid guy he was, Shirou let the matter drop. "I see that you've been practising," he commented appraisingly, looking at the bow in her hand.

"A bit, yes," the black haired girl nodded, her cheeks reddening. "But I am having trouble hitting the target as well as you do, Sempai."

"Is that so," Shirou said, frowning slightly. "Show me then," he told her.

"What? Right now?" Sakura tepidly asked.

Shirou nodded affirmatively.

After a moment of deliberation, Sakura picked up her bow and quietly slipped into her stance. Then notching the arrow, she took careful aim. Stilling her breath, she eyed the target intensely, and then, let the arrow fly. The arrow didn't even graze the target board.

She hung her head in embarrassment. "I'll never be good at this," she spoke dejectedly.

But Shirou just shook his head. "No Sakura. You've the potential to be a great archer."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No!" Shirou vehemently denied. "Trust me, you are good. It's just that, although your stance and discipline is excellent; you're getting too tense, and thinking too much. You're thinking about the final result of arrow hitting the target so much, you're completely abandoning the part where you become one with the arrow."

The master of Rider seemed to think hard on this. Then she hung her head once again, "Sorry sempai, but I don't understand what you're trying to say. I guess, the way of the bow is not for me."

"Nonsense," Shirou was quick to shoot down her claim. He opened his mouth to say something, but then, closed it. "Just relax, okay. Everything will be fine," he tried to reassure her.

"Alright, sempai," Sakura assented, offering an uncertain smile.

"Anyhow, have you seen your brother around here?" Shirou asked after a brief moment of silence. "I didn't see him in the class today."

"Oh, brother stayed at home. He told me that he is sick."

"Huh, he seemed fine to me yesterday." Shirou was perplexed by the news. "Did you ask him what might be the case?"

"I tried, but he told me to mind my own business."

"That guy," Shirou shook his head in exasperation. "Anyway, I think I should head back to the class now," he said, looking at his wrist watch. "Take care, Sakura. I'll meet you at dinner."

"Ok bye, sempai," Sakura waved him off.

"He's right you know." Now that Shirou was gone, Rider chose to speak once again.

"About what?"

"About you having potential. And about you being too tense as well."

Sakura directed a questioning gaze at him.

"Instead of me explaining, why don't you give it a try once more? But this time, remember to relax as the boy told you."

She was about dismiss him but stopped when she saw him looking at her expectantly. Not in a demanding sort of way, but in a way, which made her want to succeed.

With her mind made up, she picked up her bow once again and aimed. Eyeing the centre of the target, she tried to steady her breath. "Relax," she felt a warm hand rest supportively on her shoulder. She blinked, then smiled. Then she let the arrow fly. And when the arrow struck the wooden target board, her smile turned radiant.

 **A/N:** So this was basically the first look at the interaction between Rider and Sakura. Review on what you thought about this, and you can advise me on how I can improve as well. English is my third language, so my grammar might miss the point sometimes. I apologise for that in advance.

Other than that, this Naruto is the copy of the Hokage Naruto. Therefore, although he might look like in his early twenties, he possesses the experience and wisdom gained from his trials and errors of being the leader of his village.

Now, let's take a peek into his stats.

Name: Naruto Uzumaki

Class: Rider

Gender: Male

Strength: B

Endurance: A

Agility: A

Mana: A

Luck: A

 **Class** **Skills**

Magic Resistance: B

Riding: EX

 **Personal Skills**

Battle Continuation: A

Charisma: A

Eye of the Mind (False): B

Mana Synchronization: A

Monstrous Strength: A

Ninjutsu: EX

Presence Detection: A

Proof of Friendship: A

Sage Art: A

 **Noble Phantasm:**?

Instead of writing an info-dump to describe all these parameters, I'll be explaining each one in the course of the story.

 **Notice:** Beta needed.


	3. Epiphany

**Review Responses:**

First of all, I would like to say that I've changed the parameter of Luck stat as the previous one got lots of negative feedback. At first I was not going to change it to higher rank, but then thought why not? Something as fickle as luck is never going to be defined or explained properly so I went ahead and changed it. After all, despite how high Saber's luck was, she was still the one who was getting battered left and right the most.

 **Guest:** I can see where you are coming from when saying Naruto isn't for formalities. But hey, Gilgamesh, the guy with an ego the size of the whole world, was fine with calling Tokiomi master, why not Naruto?

And about the supercontinent Pangea, and the issue with Naruto coming from before Gilgamesh's age, I have a plausible theory. You see, canon Naruto takes lots of cues from Hindu mythology – Indra, Ashura, Samsara, various paths of Rinnegan etc. And in that mythology, which is all about cycle of life and death, even eras are cycled. You get it. There is just not one modern era, instead a modern era is just a particular stage in time, which will again cycle back.

 **The souless knight:** Naruto doesn't have presence concealment. If he was summoned as an Assassin class, he would have it. But not as a Rider class. It doesn't matter if in life they can do something or not. Class restriction works like that.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

 **Epiphany**

"Hey master!" Rider shouted over the swiftly blowing winds. "Did it ever to occur to you that your grandfather was kind of an asshole?"

He was rewarded with a flat gaze from his master.

Ignoring her look, he continued his tirade. "Because if my memory hasn't failed me, I clearly remember you telling me that that the old worm had told you before summoning me that I was going to be the first servant to be summoned."

"Yes, you were summoned almost a month before the official war started," Sakura nodded.

"Yeah, a month! Then why is it that just after a week of getting summoned, the freaking Berserker is trying to make a paste out of us!" he said with a tick mark on his forehead. And just then, an inhuman roar that shattered all the glass panes of the nearby buildings he was dashing past with his master on his back let him know their adversary was still hounding them.

Meanwhile on his back, Sakura couldn't help but marvel at how Rider seemed to effortlessly cruise though all the obstacles and hurdles that the city skyscrapers provided. With peerless precision and grace, every step he took was meant to propel them forward in the most efficient of ways possible, not wasting any movement with excessive twist and fancy turns. And don't even get her started on how breath-taking it was when he had started to run up the side of the buildings.

Another unholy roar from the extremely vexed Berserker made her look back to see that the mad as hell giant smashing his way towards him, seemingly growing furious with each passing second.

"The fault lies upon you," she said simply. "You were the one who thought it would be a good idea to pinch the cheeks of that albino girl."

"But she was so cute! I didn't expect her to suddenly exclaim _Kill them, Berserker!_ " Rider protested weakly.

"And she probably got flustered by your action. After all nobody expects a stranger to suddenly pick them up and swing them round and round."

Her servant had the decency to adopt a sheepish look at that. Then he brightened up when he saw that they were finally out in the clearing, far from the crowded area of the Fuyuki city. "Alright, ready to see what your servant can do master?" he grinned as he asked.

"I am. But please be careful," unlike the largely carefree Rider, Sakura was feeling cautious. Berserker class servants, with their _Mad_ _Enhancement_ were arguably the most powerful class after the coveted Saber. Their single-minded pursuit of destruction, coupled with their capability to simply shrug off otherwise debilitating blow and keep going was exceptionally hard to overcome. Although it can be said that their single-mindedness can be used against them, however, even if they somehow were able to get around it, the resilience of Berserker will allow it to just withstand any onslaught they will launch back.

She was derailed from her thoughts when Rider flicked her on her forehead. "You worry too much. Have faith in your servant, ok," he said, reassuringly. With that said, in a burst of smoke a clone formed by their side, took hold of Sakura, and then, dashed away from them to keep her away from harm.

As for Rider, he abruptly stopped in what appeared to be some kind of park. Turning towards where the bronze coloured giant of destruction was coming at him, a playful smirk adorned his face as he cracked his finger. "Alright, let's see what you've got now, shall we," saying this, he blasted towards Berserker and buried his fist in the stomach of the hulking brute with all the force he could muster, promptly stopping his mad rush. "Servant Rider at your service," he flippantly stated.

In response, Berserker gave another one of his inhuman roar, which was cut short by the courtesy of a roundhouse kick to his face.

But Berserker was hardly fazed by it and roared even louder in anger. With an agility that belied its size, it tried to hack at Rider with his sword, which was nothing more than a slab of stone cut out in the shape of a sword.

Each swing, capable of turning the stone into rubble, as shown by the demolished ground beneath them just from the force of a swing, was launched towards the blonde in a flurry.

However, not a single swing was able to hit the nimble servant. Berserker was unable to hit him. With superior speed and agility, Rider was casually twisting and turning out of earth shattering slashes.

Enraged by his inability to hit the Servant of the Mount, Berserker snarled viciously, redoubling his effort to hit his foe.

"Didn't you know?" But Rider invaded Berserker's personal space with a casual ease, and to the amazement of his master who had been watching the battle through his eyes, and astonishment of currently hiding mad giant's master, he caught the sword made of stone in his hand. Then planting his feet on the chest of his opponent, he let out a grunt of effort and ripped the sword out of its owner's hand. "Screaming louder doesn't equate to increased strength," saying that he lopped the head off his opponent with the _borrowed_ sword.

A sudden silence befell upon them.

"What!?" a girlish cry pierced through the night of Fuyuki.

Rider evenly watched as a preteen girl of porcelain complexion, with long snow white hair and wearing purple winter clothes, revealed herself at the edge of the park with a look of utter surprise etched on her face. He raised his eyebrows when he saw the surprise rapidly bleed into calmness as she composed herself. 'Well, that was quick,' he thought.

'Rider, something's off,' the voice of Sakura filtered into his mind through the link shared by servant and master.

Immediately, he forced his body to jump backwards as his danger senses honed from decades of being a shinobi screamed at him of coming danger. And good thing that he did as the moment he had vacated the place that he had been standing upon, it was completely torn asunder by Berserker's fist.

'What the hell!?' Rider looked at his completely recovered foe incredulously. 'Did he just regrew his head?'

He threw himself to his left to avoid a lunge from Berserker. 'No matter, I'll just behead him again.' Rolling on the ground, he stood up without losing his momentum and rotated his body on the heel of his foot as he brought down his enemy's sword at its owner's nape.

But the result was different this time. Unlike last time, Berserker's head was not separated from his body as Rider had wanted. Instead, the stone sword shattered into thousands of pieces when it came into contact with the bronze giant's skin.

'Huh,' his jaw dropped as he stared at the piece of stone that was all left of the sword in his hand. He was stumped.

And that momentary lapse of concentration nearly cost him.

Berserker wasted no time in throwing a straight punch at him, which would have blown a hole through his stomach if not for him hastily drawing up a guard with both hands.

He winced as he skidded back on the ground. 'Damn, he can hit as hard as Bushy-brow sensei.' He was sure he felt his bones creak under the tremendous pressure.

Next, he had to swerve away from a ferocious onslaught of kicks and punches. Despite losing his sword, Berserker was no less dangerous as having that sword had made him a bit easier to figure out as all he had to worry about was that sword. Now he had become more unpredictable.

"Is that all that you are going to do?" Berserker's master sneered. "Running around like a coward. Instead of fighting like a true hero that you are supposed to be." There was a mocking glint in her ruby red eyes.

"Trust me, you don't want boss to get serious." The tiny master of the mad giant felt her feet go cold when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Wh-what~? H-how~?" her mind scrambled to get her thoughts together.

"Please calm down. We have no intention of hurting you." She whirled around when she heard the voice of Rider's master. "G-get away from me!" she shouted, panicking. Berserker, feeling his master's distress, immediately tried to get to her.

However, just when he was about to reach her, thick woody vines burst forth the ground beneath him and began to rapidly ensnare him. It wasn't enough to stop the rampaging servant though. He was snarling in fury as he ferociously wrecked the vines tangling him. But to his increasing anger, and to dismay of his master, the vines began to grow thicker and stronger as it coiled around him tighter than before.

And to make the matter worse for him, waves of sand exploded out of the ground all around him and locked him in a place by encasing him in a shape of cocoon.

Having captured the rampaging giant, Rider went near the cocoon and pumped chakra through his vines. "Sleep," he intoned as the vines began to glow soft green. And just like that, Illyasviel von Einzbern, master of the Berserker of the fifth Holy Grail War, watched as her servant started to droop slightly than after a moment, dozed off.

For the second time that day, silence befell upon them.

The clone by Illyasviel's side smirked as he spoke, "Like I told you, you don't want boss to get ser…" but before he could finish gloating, he burst out of existence when in a flash, Rider came and punched his clone square in the face. "You idiot!" he yelled. "Didn't I tell you to not bring Sakura anywhere near the battle."

Seeing the antics of her servant, Sakura shook her head in mild bemusement.

As for Illyasviel, if she was panicking before, now she was downright terrified. Seeing how effortlessly the Servant of the Mount had dispatched her servant, who was considered one of the toughest, if not the toughest servant of the Holy Grail War, she felt her life flashing before her eyes.

"You are Illyasviel von Einzbern, aren't you?" She nearly jumped when she heard the raven haired girl speak.

"Don't think you have won this!" She tried to put up a brave front, despite how shaken she was by the turn of events. Never had she imagined that tides will turn against her in this way, and this fast. "And how do you know my name?" she retorted.

Sakura could clearly see that the tiny representative of Einzbern was extremely distrustful of them, not letting her guard down at all. 'Well, I suppose this was bound to happen when Rider incapacitated her servant that easily,' she wryly thought, feeling surprisingly calm despite the situation. Or maybe it was just because of her mind being numb from seeing her servant display his remarkable battle prowess. She had an inkling as to powerful he was, but _this_ powerful, she had not expected it.

"Hey! I asked you how you know my name!" Apparently, Illyasviel was not fond of getting ignored.

"My apologies," Sakura said plainly. "I was formerly associated with the Makiri family, or Matou as they are known these days. They are one of the founding member of this war, as you might already know."

"So you got information on me with the help of this family of yours?"

"Yes, in a way."

"Not very forthcoming, are you?" Illyasviel rhetorically asked in an annoyed tone, all the while racking her brains on trying to find a way out of this situation that she was in. But few seconds later, she sighed in defeat, most probably finding no rational way out of this. "Alright, I know when I'm defeated. So what do you want from me then? You said you don't intend to hurt me."

"There was some information that we wanted to validate from you. So we sought you out as soon as you stepped in this city."

"Huh, what kind of information?"

"Tell me this, does the name _Kiritsugu Emiya_ rings any bell to you?"

At once, ruby red eyes turned frigid.

As it turned out, Rider was exceptionally good in gathering information. Like he had claimed, his shadow clone technique was incredibly useful. With more than hundreds of clones scouring the city and beyond in each crook and cranny, he had gathered voluminous amount of intelligence in a short amount of time. And amongst all those collected information, a certain name had stuck out prominently to her – Kiritsugu Emiya, who was apparently considered as the bogeyman of the moonlit world i.e. the hidden world of the magus.

But it was not the fact that her crush's dad was the infamous Magus Killer that grabbed her attention. But what had turned her head was the fact that he was a Master in the previous Holy Grail War, and a powerful one at that as he had reportedly summoned Saber and was one of the last two standing.

She had at first contemplated asking her sempai about him considering he was his son, but then decided against it. No offense to the endearing upperclassman of her, but he was incredibly naïve and of honourable nature to be associated with the world of magus. She had no doubt that all of this will come as a surprise to him if she had decided to go to him. So with nothing to gain from, that particular avenue was closed to her.

But all was not lost though. Apparently, Kiritsugu Emiya had not participated as an independent master. Instead, he was employed by one of the founding members of the Holy Grail War, the Einzberns of Germany. And in what appeared to be a stroke of luck, she found out that a representative of Einzbern was coming to Fuyuki today.

"I don't know anyone by the name of Kiritsugu Emiya," Illyasviel said in an icy tone.

The raven haired former Matou stared with an unreadable gaze for few seconds. "Are you sure?" she then asked.

"Yes! Why would I lie?" the tiny master pointedly looked at the taller girl.

"Why indeed?" Sakura rhetorically asked.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, for now."

After that, Sakura allowed Illyasviel and her servant to leave. While skeptical, the white haired girl was not going to look a gift horse in mouth so she promptly left.

And as soon as she did, Sakura collapsed against her servant. Rider, seeing how she was turning pale and clammy, held her upright gently as she tried to recompose herself. Her whole body was shaking. "Was it too much for the first time?" Rider asked softly, understanding her plight.

For Sakura, as brief as it was, experiencing the battle through the eyes of Rider had certainly been an eye-opening experience. The dizzying rush of battle of was both exhilarating, as well as frightening.

It was said that to be a magus, is to walk alongside death. The mysterious and unpredictable nature of all things associated with magecraft made it impossible to live a normal life. Constantly surrounded by unknown variables of possibly fatal nature ensured that a magus will always tread along a fine line that separated life and death. Therefore, a child who was to be raised as a magus was persistently reminded of this doctrine that basically says you could die at any moment.

And although Sakura knew this, and had endured horrors that would break even the most inhuman of magus, she had never felt the sensations associated with a battle, like those of blood pumping and pulsing through her veins so fast that she felt like her heart will burst. And she had certainly never experienced what being subjected to an absurdly oppressive amounts of killer intent washing over her in rolling waves.

"… Yes," Sakura winced at how weak she sounded.

"Why the long face, master. You did well," he appraised her. "I'm proud of how you stood your ground and put a brave front despite the nerves of first battle. Others would have probably fainted on their spot in front of someone like Berserker."

Sakura smiled, appreciating his effort to lift her mood up. "Thank you," she said in a grateful tone.

Truth was, from the moment the confrontation had started, she had gone blank. She had heard about the magnificence that was the battle between servants, but to see it with her own eyes – it was something else, no matter how brief it was. Moreover, the terrifying aura that seemed to liberally emanate from Berserker was equally mystifying and petrifying. Just his presence was enough to make her mind conjure up unbidden images of her violent death.

She was not going to lie. By herself, she would have probably stiffened still in fear and became an easy target for the Berserker to strike down. However, fortunately for her, Rider was there for her. Not only was he simply magnificent, he also constantly let out a comforting aura that continuously enveloped her, making her feel very safe. And thus, she was able to remain calm and collected in spite of her stumped mind.

Rider clicked his tongue. "Now, now… That just won't do. You see, if you want to thank me, you have to do it like this," saying that, he held up his fist.

Sakura at first was puzzled by his action, but she quickly understood his gesture and bumped her fist against his.

The Servant of the Mount beamed. "Now, isn't this much better?" he asked rhetorically.

Sakura couldn't agree more.

 **A/N:** Looks like Sakura is interested in Kiritsugu Emiya. Who can guess why?

If it isn't already noticeable, this story is going to be Sakura centric. Everything that happens or occurs will be the interpretation of how she views them. So that basically means not everything thought or said will be concrete fact.

As for my absence, I'll just say this – I lost my muse. Don't know where I dropped it. Searched a lot in many deleted Word pages and retconned sentences, but couldn't find it. And now it's back without any prompt. Strange huh.


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